it's funny when you open your eyes to something, how easy it is to actually see it...everywhere. i've been practising this on my everyday walking routes and checking out what kind of feral/wild/for-the-taking edible food there is around my local area. nasturtiums are by far the easiest edible to forage. here, in a Dulwich Hill park, I find a huge patch of the edible plants (all parts are edible with the same spicy, peppery, awakening taste tingle). Notice the dandelion in there too- highly nutritious. I may have spied some wild lettuce in there as well. if only i could fill all around it with more, more, more!

i've started to become frustrated and anxious about all the unused space around the place. In my imagination they all become vegetable gardens. imagine a world where your lunch was just a wander around your natural street "supermaket"- choosing whats in season and available for picking. scrumping no more. sharing becomes natural and organic.

idealism fuels action.

the weapon

greet your giant ancestor-

or become trapped beneath.

when the forests come down-

listen.

photo: alexander papasavvas

no more wishing

the wish tree at LIVE FUTURES, harking back to our Lurkers event where hopeful for the Copenhagen summit, we hung wishes for those attending. it can be hard to not remain disempowered.

so you're going to start to notice a lot of permaculture related blogging on this site as its become one of my primary interests in the last year. ive found myself, in the city, longing for a need to connect to the origin of things- where things have come from and how they fit into my cycle of being. a growing concern for the state of the environment, ( i won't say "climate change" because it's time to say Ecological Crisis ), and the way the food industry impacts upon this has become predominant in my everyday life as i take on a number of gardens, start an interest in foraging and supporting "artists" and "activists" (because that's what organic permaculuralists and even vege gardeners are) in their endeavours to re-educate for the future. we need to look backwards in order to look forwards and become connected- grassroots stylez.

currently alexander and i are getting our first vege patch ready for spring. we are also (with our friend el) maintaining a balcony garden at COFA- even though I don't attend there. with our very close friend and fellow artist victoria we have been allowed as 'guardians' to some land in wombeyan caves where vic is hoping to start a journey to self-sustainability. we are weaving these ideas into our current artworks as they become entangled in our everyday lives..

that- is very briefly, an overview of where I am at right now. you will hear much more on the matter as i consolidate my ideas in post form.

no more wishing:

alex at LIVE FUTURES where we worked on the COFA permaculture patch (balcony vege container garden).

On the benefits of Volunteering

a combination of monotonous student- artist impoverishment and abounding enthusiasm for all events that aim to allow sydney siders a unique view of themselves and the outer world through film, culture and film culture, i found myself again, a volunteer prophet for the festivalists' 2010 possible worlds canadian film festival.

apparent gifting of my time for non-profit causes is part of the reason the fest is able to run each year but from my point of view- volunteers are allowed a privileged position in the festivities- not only is there the allure of gaining access to prime perching points for viewing free of charge one-of- a kind films ( en masse ), the sense of pride when taking some credit for a part in a festival you didn't actually have to experience the effort and stress to produce, the week long binge of fine wine, canadian beer and whiskey alongside your arts and the friends and connections you forge along the way are just some of the invaluable bonus' and surprises when volunteering for such a wonderful festival.

i would choose being a part of something over "attendance" any day of the week. you should consider it.

one of my favs:

MIGHTY UKE

who knew of this incredible underground 'revolution' that is the ukelele world wide movement/community? not i. self proclaimed as 7/8th crazy, these ukelele lovers warmed my heart. i think the consensus at the end of the night was that everyone was going to pick up a uke and give it a go (well besides the 80 ukelele players who already showed up, song books and all). its not often a crowd thanks you for having technical difficulties throughout a screening as it gave them an opportunity to have a sing-a-long sesh but these guys had the right kind of vibe. the film won the 'audience award' for the festival and it's no surprise.

check out some other reviews, news etc at the Possible Worlds BLOG.

many congrats and thanks to the festivalists for another spectacular possible worlds festival.

The cat is back

I'm coming back, I've been holidaying from blogiverse and well the whole webosphere in general. It's been great and I've been busy (see above) but I'm all refreshed now and want to dive back in.

Happy times.

Art Outside, Multiple Personalities

Art Outside Multiple Personalities continues this week until the 13th!

Rozelle Mental Hospital, abandoned wards 17 &18 were opened up last Friday for Sydney artists to install, jam, hang, perform and put some of their life in art form into the space. The place is beautiful and never has it been more colourful and vibrant and full of diverse perspectives.

Punk Monk showcased on Opening Night but some of (and the skeletons of) their art is still available for your pondering.

The Piano room of ward 18 is echoing the old pianos screams, mesmerist hovering ghost projections and is scribbled with musical vitriolic but poetic scribblings and is available for you to paint all over on a giant canvas (kickstarted by Deo) .Not far is The Bleep Machine with a haunting sound scape and intrusive, rhythmic machinery viewing through the peephole. Look out for the melting cars, they may have escaped the space or may still be exploring- get them driving again. Over in ward 17 is a giant spiders web/web of the mind, the skeleton of a larger project conducted on the night where melting liquid light and colour was seen oozing from the room's cranium.

Unfortunately Liam's trumpeteering heard from all corners of the ward and our poet's conjuring images through their words on opening night are only for the wall's memory now.

Please go check it out, there are some beautiful works by a huge number of Sydney artists. Support opening up disused space for artist use (Thank you Rogerio and Leichardt Council)!

More photos to come (especially of The Bleep Machine and Melting Cars)- the above is a small taster from Opening Night.

There are some other photos of the artworks of the exhibition on it's site.

TYPOGRAFFITI, What went down?

A.R O.O6 TYPOGRAFFITI, our last ALGAE RHYTHM of the year and the best way to finish off a fantastic creative year for Punk Monk Propaganda.

Our beautiful German interns Felix and Michael curated a night full of energy, activity and creative vibes- an art free- for-all with no adherence to previous skill sets- just freedom. We kicked off with a bang, The Cornershop at capacity (despite drizzly weather overfilling our tarps), for a Graffiti art basic how-to by "real" street artists and then creative atmos and great people mingling and jamming for the rest of the night. Font love inside with text design wowing especially for those that never considered its extrapolations- who knew there was such fanaticism surrounding Helvetica?

As we are about to hit off a New Year for the very young and fresh ALGAE RHYTHM, do we have takers for curating? Do we have takers for participating?

ALGAE is the future.

ALGAE RHYTHM 0.05: portals from punk monk propaganda on Vimeo.

(last A.R 0.05: PORTALS curated by myself with Alex Papasavvas at my side)